Gender Issues
by Unconventional-Creator
Summary: G1, with OCs. Despite having no official 'genders', Cybertronians have suspiciously human views on the subject...
1. Chapter 1

Somewhat OC-centric. Meant to be short. Dragonsbane and Faith are mine - the 'Bots and 'Cons are not.

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><p>Dragonsbane had a prolem.<p>

Unlike most of the femmes the Autobots had contact with, the dragonbot didn't have that near-constant 'treat me like your equal or I'll rip out your vital parts' attitude. She acted more like a mech-friend than a femme, and for a while, this had worked just fine…..since they had all thought she was a mech to begin with.

Her frame was much bulkier than a typical femme frame, and her voice wasn't of the usual light, higher tone. She wasn't very fast, she wasn't very light; anything feminine, she seemed to be the opposite. Even when drunk, she had never let slip on any detail that made her seem feminine. It wasn't until Cliffjumper made a mild gender-specific joke that anyone noticed anything.

"Dude, I'm right here." She made a face around her half-empty cube of energon as those around the table laughed. "You don't see me cracking' jokes about your masculinity…" A silence had fallen around the table as those words were processed; the others - for once - jumping to the correct conclusion.

"Wait…you're a femme?" Pipes finally managed. Dragonsbane raised one optic ridge over the edge of her cube.

"Yah….is that a problem?" A general chorus of 'no' had circulated those in attendance, but the general air never returned to its formal jovial state. At first, Dragonsbane had shrugged it all off, expecting everything to get back to normal after day or two. Five weeks passed, and the femme resorted to drinking alone.

Her fingertips drummed on the tabletop, clicking as the tips of her claws contacted the smooth surface before they were pulled up again. Audial feathers were pulled back into a single curved line, tangentially low off of her helm, and the energon cube - picked up nearly twenty minutes ago - was still untouched. Dragonsbane stared down into the pink depths, only looking up when a towering shadow fell across her table.

"You seem troubled." Skyfire stated simply. Dragonsbane sighed.

"I am…." She groaned. The big jet pulled out the chair across from the dragon and sat down.

"Want to talk about it?" He offered. Dragonsbane paused.

"….you know I'm a femme, right?" She asked after a moment or two of silence. Skyfire nodded.

"Yes, I do know." He replied. The femme made a face.

"Most of my friends didn't apparently…I mentioned something while we were drinking about a month back, and none of them have treated me the same since." She swirled the energon within the cube, watching the pink liquid inside lap dangerously close to the top edge. "Did I make them mad or something…?"

"No, you didn't make them mad." Skyfire shook his head. "They're just used to a femme being….a little more delicate….maybe of a lighter build…" He paused.

"Basically, everything I'm not?" Dragonsbane guessed with a huff.

"Uh…mostly…" Skyfire sighed. "Things will get back to normal. It's…just going to take them all some time to get used to the idea of a femme acting (and looking, sorry) like a mech." Dragonsbane stared at him.

"….I'm consoled, and a tiny bit insulted by that."

"Sorry."


	2. Chapter 2

Possible OOC Prowl and Ratchet. I haven't had much practice with those two. Dragonsbane and Faith are mine - the 'Bots and 'Cons are not.

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><p>Another month went by, and Dragonsbane decided to start seeking advice. She considered a lot of mechs, and turned most of them down. Bluestreak would just get all flustered and change the topic. Jazz would just tell her she looked fine the way she was. The twins couldn't care less, she already had Skyfire's opinion, and most of the Minibots were still avoiding her. That left most of the higher-ups, the humans, and those Autobots she'd never really spoken with before.<p>

Not sure the humans could answer honestly and in no-mood to go seeking new acquaintances, Dragonsbane turned to the last group left.

She started with Ratchet, waiting until her physical rolled around rather than dropping in unexpectedly. With her own appointment, she didn't have to worry about any other sickbay-bound mechs listening in. The femme was silent the entire procedure, and only spoke up as the CMO was finishing up his notes.

"Ratchet? You can tell I'm a femme, right?" The medic sighed.

"Kid, I'm your CMO. It's part of my job to know the difference." He made another annotation. "Although I'll admit, from a distance, I did think you were a mech." Dragonsbane's red audial feathers dropped flat at this afterthought.

"Good to know…" She muttered. Ratchet filed away the data pad and turned to give the femme a curious look.

"Why the sudden interest in looking your gender designation?" He asked. Dragonsbane's fingers drummed against her thigh plating for a moment.

"No reason in particular…just curious." She hopped off the berth and hurried out the door. "ThanksforthephysicalBYE!" Ratchet shook his head as the door hissed shut behind her, but paid the odd question no further thought and moved on to his next project of the day.

Next, Dragonsbane took a bit of a bold step and asked Prowl.

Indirectly, of course.

"Sir?" The Datsun twitched a doorwing in acknowledgement of the femme as he moved his chess piece, engaged in a game with Faith - someone who's opinion Dragonsbane wasn't concerned with. "Hypothetically…if you found out your best mech friend was really, say…a femme…." She paused. "Would it change your opinion of them?"

"…" Prowl didn't respond for a few minutes as he countered Faith's Bishop with his Queen. "No." He finally replied with a simple one-liner. "I would, however, be curious as to why I was never informed."

"Say the topic never came up. Hypothetically." The femme added quickly. Prowl shifted one of his pawns to guard his Rook from Faith's own pawn.

"Then, hypothetically, I wouldn't be concerned." The 2IC replied without ever taking his optics off the Cybertronian-sized chess board. "Like humans, Cybertronians have the long-standing notion that to be a femme is to be weaker. After viewing Elita-One and her crew in action numerous times over several millennia, I find this notion to be incorrect." Prowl cornered Faith's King with his Queen. The small femme struggled with her options for a few minutes, before tipping over the black piece with a sigh. Prowl turned in his seat to face Dragonsbane.

"I assume this question comes in the wake of your unintentional drunken confession two months prior?" He noted. The femme shifted.

"….it wasn't so much of a confession as it was a passing comment on something I thought they already knew and found out they didn't…." She muttered. Prowl nodded.

"Cliffjumper has never been a very tactful speaker. Or good at adapting to sudden changes…such as finding out his best mech-friend is a femme." Dragonsbane's audial feathers flattened. "You shocked them all with a rather nonchalant statement. It's going to take them some time to adjust to it." The Datsun stood up and nodded at Faith, thanking her for the game.

"While they're at it…why don't you try mingling with a new crowd?" Prowl suggested. "The Aerialbots and Protectobts like to hang out in the west corner of the lounge every other weekday at noon. You're free then, also." Dragonsbane twitched an audial feather fan as the 2IC left the room. Faith stood and began resetting the board.

"While you're contemplating that, care to play with me?" The fellow femme offered. "I need a self-confidence boost after that trouncing Prowl just gave me." She grinned. The audial feather fan flattened.

"…oh, ha-ha." Dragonsbane mock-laughed as she sat down. "I see what you did, thar. Better tell Scotty to beam you up - it's about to get nasty, here."


End file.
